Saturday, June 7, 2014
Ministers from participating states in the Code, which addresses the repression of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, recognised the need to develop a mechanism for the region to run its own counter-piracy agenda.
This follows the successful implementation by IMO of numerous projects aimed at improving regional capacity to counter piracy by developing enhanced regional co-operation and co-ordination.
The high-level meeting agreed a resolution on future work under the Code, which envisaged the immediate start of work to establish a new structure for its regional implementation, with IMO playing a supportive role during a transitional period.
The meeting was attended by 80 delegates, including ministers and other officials from the code’s participating and signatory states, as well as by representatives from a number of donor states and international organisations, including the EU, ReCAAP, NATO and the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.
IMO secretary general Koji Sekimizu pledged IMO’s full support for ongoing capacity-building work. He said that the region’s need to develop its own capacity to deal with piracy was stronger now than ever, as the international navies deployed voluntarily must, inevitably, look to reduce their forces over the next few years, if the attacks continue to diminish and pressures on naval resources are focussed elsewhere.
Source: Tanker Operator